The present invention generally relates to winged needle medical devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to safety winged needle medical devices such as winged blood collection needles, winged infusion needles, and blood collection bags with attached winged needles, which are designed to minimize the incidence of accidental needlesticks after needle contamination.
Accidental needlesticks have long been a problem in the medical profession. Accidental needlesticks most often occur during the recapping of a contaminated needle or immediately after use and prior to safe disposal. Such needlesticks place the medical professional (clinician) at risk. When needles are not recapped, additional accidental needlesticks are caused by uncapped needles found in patient beds, linens, and in garbage cans, and place health care, housekeeping and sanitation personnel at risk. Because accidental needlesticks can now result in deadly incurable diseases as well as the previously appreciated serious, but curable diseases, the need for eliminating the needlestick problem has reached extreme urgency. In addressing the urgency, many devices have been proposed. Indeed, reference may be had to the background section of parent application hereof, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 162,569 for a discussion of the prior art of safety needles.
While numerous safety needles of varying complexity and feasibility have been proposed, fewer safety devices for winged needle arrangements have been proposed; perhaps due to the more flexible nature of typical winged needle devices. One proposed safety winged needle device is the retractable safety winged needle of Jagger et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,783. As seen in FIG. 1, herein, the Jagger et al. device includes an outer shield 10, an inner tube 20, a needle 30, wings 50, and tabs 52. The outer shield 10 which has wings 50 attached to it has inner camming surfaces 28 which act as a restriction on one end and a constriction 16 on the needle end. The needle 30 is attached to an enlarged end 22 of the inner tube 20, the other end of which has the tabs 52 attached to it. The device is used by holding the wings 50 while pushing the needle 30 into a vein. Upon removing the needle from the vein, the practitioner pulls back on the tabs 52 attached to the inner tube while holding the wings 50 attached to the outer tube in place. As a result, the inner tube 20 slides backward inside the outer tube 10 until the enlarged end of the inner tube 20 is caught in the inner camming surface 28 of the outer tube 10. At that point, the needle 30 is safely covered by the outer tube 10, and with the inner and outer tubes wedged together, the assembly may be safely disposed.
While the Jagger et al. device is attractive in its simplicity, it apparently has not gained acceptance in the marketplace because it does not provide means to lock or secure the needle and hold it in place during venipuncture. Moreover, it is very difficult to manufacture and assemble. In manufacturing, the enlarged end 22 of the inner tube must eventually be received inside the outer tube 10. However, the camming surfaces 28 of the outer tube 10 prevent such insertion.